Placer County District Attorney’s Office Fields Special DUI Prosecution Program

Those arrested for DUI in Placer County, especially repeat offenders and those involved in fatal or injury crashes, can expect to face highly trained, specialized team of prosecutors and investigators, thanks to a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety. The $332,469 to the Placer County District Attorney’s Office will fund a Vertical Prosecution team that will work cases from arrest through sentencing.

The vertical prosecution team consists of a specialized prosecutor and an investigator who are highly trained to handle both alcohol and drug-impaired driving cases throughout each step of the criminal justice process. In fatal and major injury DUI vehicle collisions, members of the team may respond to the crash scene to be part of the investigation.

In the past year under the 2014-2015 OTS grant, the vertical prosecution team filed 85 felony and 15 misdemeanor cases of driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs. The office as a whole filed 987 DUI cases.

District Attorney Scott Owens commended the California Office of Traffic Safety for providing the county with this grant saying that “the grant allows us the opportunity to provide additional and focused investigatory and prosecutorial resources that increase our ability to keep our roads safe and achieve justice for those that are victimized by the dangerous individuals who choose to drive impaired.”

The DUI prosecution team handles cases throughout each step of the criminal process, prosecuting both alcohol and drug-impaired driving cases. Prosecution team members will work with the State’s Traffic Safety Resource Prosecutor Program to increase the capabilities of the team and the office by obtaining and delivering specialized training, including training in the emerging problem of drug-impaired driving. Team members will share information with peers and law enforcement personnel throughout the county and across the state.

The purpose of the program is to prevent impaired driving and reduce alcohol and drug-impaired traffic fatalities and injuries. In 2012, there were 8 deaths and 175 serious injuries as a result of DUI crashes in the County.

Funding for the program comes from a grant by the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.